Our Sunday school is the students wing of the  Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

Mission:  

 Acquaint our children with Biblical stories concerning the love, care, and protection of God, and man's need to communicate with God, to develop children's capacity to speak to God in Prayer, to prepare children for the participation in the sacramental life of the church - especially the Eucharist, thereby helping children to develop positive habits of church behavior. 

Functions: 

The Sunday school was established in the year 1998 and has been active since then.  We are one of the few blessed churches in North America to hold Sunday school lessons.  We have a team of dedicated teachers to take care of over 100 students, ranging from pre-school to youth.  We follow the educational curriculum set forth by the South West Diocese.. 

Every Sunday, classes meet right after the Holy Qurbana.  Sunday school beings with a a general educational session,  for 20 minutes where the Songs, Hymns, Liturgy, meaning of the Holy Qurbana, and the importance of the special days are explained in detail. Later, individual classes are held for all grades.  Sunday school year starts in August, and runs through the end of May. 

Apart from the lessons learned at the Sunday school, we also hold numerous extra curricular activities that nourish the talents of children such as

  • Bible Read & Study – There will be BRS workshop twice a month where the students will be asked to refer Bible verses and answer the corresponding questions.

  • Bala Balika Samajam  - Bala Balika Samajam will be held on the last week of every mo nth where the kids can perform Christian based programs.

  • Annual Talent competition - There will also be a Talent competition held once in a year on the Catholicate day where the kids can perform Christian based programs such as Solo song, Group song, Bible story, Elocution and Bible verse writing.

  • Symposium – The intermediate and Senior students will give a speech on the subject provided by the Symposium coordinator

  • Sunday School day - We celebrate the Sunday School day which comes on the first Sunday of December, where the students sing the Sunday school songs and the Senior students gives the messages and the importance of the Sunday school.

  • Christmas Program – Every grade will present the Christian based programs which include Skit, Dance, Carols, Action song and Nativity play.

  • OVBS  - The OVBS (Orthodox Vacation Bible School) is held during the Summer vacation where the students learn songs, Bible story, messages and will also have the games and competition on the last day of OVBS.


History:

The Orthodox Church from the very beginning took utmost care in educating the Children the Values of Christian life, the contents of the Bible and the Church history. The "Koonenkurish Sathyam" in 1653 was a turning point. It emphasized the need for Catechism and Scriptural studies. During the 1765-1808 period, the study of sacraments and prayers were also included in the lessons. This was the beginning of the Sunday school in the Church. The Sunday School Samajam started functioning in 1931 with the appointment of Puthencavu Geevarghese Mar Philexinos as its President and Fr. K. David as the General Secretary. On 15 October 1964 it got its present form as "Orthodox Sunday School Association of the East" (OSSAE). Sunday School units are operating in the Orthodox Churches in and outside Kerala and  also overseas.